‘The Magicians’ Season 2: Can the Team Beat the Beast?

Fresh off a showdown with the Beast (Charles Mesure), who terrorized Brakebills University’s embattled students last year, the darkly enchanting series has some tricks up its sleeve for Season 2. A humbled Quentin (Jason Ralph) is back in action, but before you can say “hocus-pocus,” the team realizes that beating the Beast—who’s vanished with the traitorous Julia (Stella Maeve)—means that Quentin’s cohort Eliot (Hale Appleman) must forsake his NYC life to become the land of Fillory’s High King.

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“To gain access to the weapons [that the magicians] need to destroy the Beast, they need to get crowned,” explains executive producer Sera Gamble. From there, this fractured fairy tale gets even more terrifying: Fillory’s magic resources are running dangerously low, Penny (Arjun Gupta) is literally powerless over his cursed hands, Julia’s sexual assault leads her down a shadowy path, and tragedy awaits Quentin as he attempts to win back Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley, above, center, with Appleman and Ralph). “He has to deal with a lot of PTSD following an event we can’t reveal just yet,” teases executive producer John McNamara. “But it has to do with the Beast.” Consider us already spellbound.

The Magicians, Season Premiere Wednesday, Jan. 25, 9/8c, Syfy